Pocahontas Solid Waste Authority Has Hard Decisions to Make

At the March 10^th special meeting of the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA,) the members discussed with their attorney, David Sims, updating their 2006 Mandatory Garbage Disposal Regulations. Sims, who provided the members with his draft proposal explained that this update is needed to modernize some terms in the old regulations, such as doing away with the term “garbage” for the more accurate and modern term “solid waste.”

More importantly, Sims said, the updated regulation needs to provide for stricter rules and enforcement which are necessary because the costs of solid waste disposal will be unavoidably increasing when the new transfer station becomes operational in a year, replacing the landfill. He said his update proposal will be stricter and tighter and would provide a way to pay for the operation of the new transfer station while keeping the cost as low as possible for citizens.

One of his suggestions, which he described as “Flow Control,” was to require that all solid waste generated in the county by individuals, businesses, and towns, or transported by hauling companies, must be required to be processed only through the county transfer station, with none of it being taken directly to another county’s landfill, or buried on private property. Sims said adopting and enforcing this rule would ensure that the transfer station’s tipping fees are collected on “every ounce” of trash generated in the county, and that added income will help keep the tipping fees and green box fees lower.

He also proposed that annual green box fees be extended from just applying to properties with structures on them and which are occupied at least one night a year, to all county properties, with or without structures and being occupied or not. This, he said will significantly lower the cost of green box fees for everyone by spreading out the number of payees. The SWA provided information that there are 1,738 farms, 4,671 unimproved residential lots and 463 improved and/or unimproved commercial properties in the county.  Members David McLaughlin and SWA Chairman David Henderson did not favor this idea especially for farmers, because many of the farms in the county are made up of different deeded lots, and it would increase their green box fees incredibly to pay the fee for each their deeded fields, which do not generate solid waste. All seemed to agree that non-farm unoccupied properties possibly could be required to pay the green box fee.  Sims suggested that unimproved properties might be offered discounted green box fees, however the SWA members still seemed skeptical of this, especially regarding farmers and large land holding companies such as timber companies whose properties might contain many deeded tracks.

At the March 10^th special meeting of the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA,) the members discussed with their attorney, David Simms, updating their 2006 Mandatory Garbage Disposal Regulations. Simms, who provided the members with his draft proposal explained that this update is needed to modernize some terms in the old regulations, such as doing away with the term “garbage” for the more accurate and modern term “solid waste.”

More importantly, Sims said, the updated regulation needs to provide for stricter rules and enforcement which are necessary because the costs of solid waste disposal will be unavoidably increasing when the new transfer station becomes operational in a year, replacing the landfill. He said his update proposal will be stricter and tighter and would provide a way to pay for the operation of the new transfer station while keeping the cost as low as possible for citizens.

One of his suggestions, which he described as “Flow Control,” was to require that all solid waste generated in the county by individuals, businesses, and towns, or transported by hauling companies, must be required to be processed only through the county transfer station, with none of it being taken directly to another county’s landfill, or buried on private property. Sims said adopting and enforcing this rule would ensure that the transfer station’s tipping fees are collected on “every ounce” of trash generated in the county, and that added income will help keep the tipping fees and green box fees lower.

He also proposed that annual green box fees be extended from just applying to properties with structures on them and which are occupied at least one night a year, to all county properties, with or without structures and being occupied or not. This, he said will significantly lower the cost of green box fees for everyone by spreading out the number of payees. The SWA provided information that there are 1,738 farms, 4,671 unimproved residential lots and 463 improved and/or unimproved commercial properties in the county.  Members David McLaughlin and SWA Chairman David Henderson did not favor this idea especially for farmers, because many of the farms in the county are made up of different deeded lots, and it would increase their green box fees incredibly to pay the fee for each their deeded fields, which do not generate solid waste. All seemed to agree that non-farm unoccupied properties possibly could be required to pay the green box fee.  Sims suggested that unimproved properties might be offered discounted green box fees, however the SWA members still seemed skeptical of this, especially regarding farmers and large land holding companies such as timber companies whose properties might contain many deeded tracks.

Regarding construction and demolition waste (C&D,) Sims said under his proposal, all C&D would be required to be taken to a proper licensed disposal site, but maybe not necessarily to the county transfer station. He said C&D should not be allowed to be buried on-site because of possible ground water pollution.

Everyone agreed that abuse of the green boxes must be tightened up to ensure only proper household waste is put in them, and that only green box fee payers use them. However, the best way to do this remains to be figured out.

All present said that being able to enforce these new regulations will be a major challenge that needs to be solved.

Henderson said there is a lot to think about here, so they scheduled another special session for Thursday, March 19^th at 2 pm to further discuss and hopefully take action on these proposals.

They also discussed and seemed to agree on needing to do away with the “free day” at the landfill effective July 1, 2026, as another way to help keep the cost lower for everyone. They also discussed how to handle household furniture and mattress disposal, seeming to agree that those items could possibly be included by weight in normal tipping fees rather than as separate disposal charges.  The future secure operation of the green boxes will also be discussed and decided at the upcoming special meeting.

Regarding construction and demolition waste (C&D,) Sims said under his proposal, all C&D would be required to be taken to a proper licensed disposal site, but maybe not necessarily to the county transfer station. He said C&D should not be allowed to be buried on-site because of possible ground water pollution.

Everyone agreed that abuse of the green boxes must be tightened up to ensure only proper household waste is put in them, and that only green box fee payers use them. However, the best way to do this remains to be figured out.

All present said that being able to enforce these new regulations will be a major challenge that needs to be solved.

Henderson said there is a lot to think about here, so they scheduled another special session for Thursday, March 19^th at 2 pm to further discuss and hopefully take action on these proposals.

They also discussed and seemed to agree on needing to do away with the “free day” at the landfill effective July 1, 2026, as another way to help keep the cost lower for everyone. They also discussed how to handle household furniture and mattress disposal, seeming to agree that those items could possibly be included by weight in normal tipping fees rather than as separate disposal charges.  The future secure operation of the green boxes will also be discussed and decided at the upcoming special meeting.